The visual art major says it's her way of coming to terms with her experience: "The past year of my life has been marked by telling people what happened in that most intimate and private space,” she said.

Emma was talking about the dorm bed where she was allegedly raped on the second night of her sophomore year.

“I was raped in my own dorm bed and since then, that space has become fraught for me. I feel like I’ve carried the weight of what happened there since then.”

Emma reported the incident to university bosses months after the attack. Her case was one of three complaints filed against the same student.

But the case was closed and her alleged rapist found “not responsible.” She appealed, but it was denied and the decision was upheld.

So Emma bought a mattress from the same company that supplies the Columbia campus and launched her performance art protest and thesis.

She has since become one of 23 students to file federal complaints against the university and she also filed a report with the New York Police Department.

Emma won the support of visual arts professor Jon Kessler, who said: "Carrying around your university bed, which was also the site of your rape, is an amazingly significant and poignant and powerful symbol.

"I felt I had something to offer in terms of how artists have done endurance performance pieces in the past, and the connection between activism and performance.”

Her thesis has also gained support from student activist groups who feel it highlights their struggle to improve the way Columbia deals with sexual assault.

Woman carries a mattress with her everywhere until her alleged rapist leaves her college

"This is not necessarily entirely an activist statement, but this is her home, the place where she lives and works and breathes and has friends," said fellow activist Zoe Ridolfi-Starr.

“We talk a lot about when is it worth it to compromise our safety and put ourselves in risky situations to push this conversation forward, but we’re at a point right now where the administration has demonstrated time and time again their inability to work with students on these issues,” she added.

Prof Kessler feels Emma's work has the potential to make an impact on campus culture: “The best art comes from a very personal place and from personal commitment and belief - otherwise you’re just doing an assignment. As a physical metaphor, the piece has tremendous power.”